Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving in his opening press availability on Wednesday hinted that the club and representatives goaltender Anthony Stolarz were working on a contract extension and that a new deal could be imminent. The 31-year-old is in the final year of a two-year, $5 million deal and is coming off the best season of his career.
“We’re seeing if it can fit. It’s got to work for the player. He’s got to feel comfortable.” Treliving said. “It’s got to work for us. I’m confident, until proven otherwise, that we can find something that’s going to work, and hopefully we can do that in short order.”
There is no disputing Stolarz’s effectiveness last season, going 21-8-3, with a 2.14 GAA, and .926 save percentage, but once again the most important ability for him is availability, and that was his issue again. The concussion courtesy of the elbow of Sam Bennett was a freak occurrence, but the New Jersey native has had chronic knee issues for most of his career, and that cropped up in early December and kept him out nearly two months.
The tandem of Stolarz and Joseph Woll was for the most part excellent last season, as Woll picked up the slack, started 41 games and had 27 wins, with a 2.73 GAA, and .909 save %. The best part of the combo was that they provided the best bang for the buck in the league, as Woll was in the final year of a bridge deal making $766,667, and Stolarz was making $2.5 million.
Keeping Costs Under Control
Woll’s new three-year deal kicks in this season at an AAV of $3.66 million. That still gives Toronto an effective pairing for a cumulative total of $7.16 million. Stolarz is likely to get a significant pay bump based on how he played last season, but his age and injury history have to mitigate how high and long Treliving is willing to go. The skyrocketing salary cap allows the Leafs some flexibility, but if they are going to delve into the free agent market next summer, they will have to keep future deals like re-signing Stolarz or Scott Laughton under control.
A contract in the $4 million to $4.5 millon range would make the most sense, with a term of two-to-three years, but if the deal goes north of $5 million and extends more than three years, the Leafs would then be allocating nearly as much on goaltending ($8.66 million +) as teams that have top flight netminders like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jake Oettinger, or Ilya Sorokin.
Camp Notes The Leafs split their practice sessions into two separate groups for the first day of on-ice sessions at Ford Performance Centre, and with the absence of Max Domi, winger Matias Maccelli was slotted in on the right wing with Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews. According to David Alter of the Hockey News, skated with the club’s development staff before the first group took to the ice.
